Manoj Aswani is VP at MyInsuranceClub.com
I want a CASHLESS mediclaim family floating policy. I don't mind even if the premium is pre-paid for 3 or 4 years in advance.
—Dev Malkan, Malad West
Only Group Insurance Plans cover maternity costs in year 1. All other Individual Plans have a waiting period of at least a few years before the claim is admitted and there is no concept of backdating health plans.
You can cover the cost of your pregnancy and deliver only if it is planned ahead since the waiting period is usually 36-48 months except in group policies. The only plan with a lesser waiting period of only 12 months is Oriental Insurance Universal Health Insurance Scheme.
However they provide for only Rs 2500 for normal deliveries and Rs 5000 for C-section deliveries. Since this is a very small amount for the huge maternity expenses, you need to venture out other options. There are quite a few Health Insurance Products which offer great Maternity Benefits.
However, the ones you can definitely consider:
1. Star Health Wedding Gift Insurance Policy, where along with delivery, even post-delivery complications for the mother and child, pre-natal and post-natal expenses, foetus disorder tests, etc. are paid for. The waiting period for Maternity Benefit is 36 months however it is reduced to 24 months if the policy is taken for a period of 4 years. This is a policy which is designed especially for women and a must for maternity care.
2. Max Bupa Heartbeat Insurance Plan, where 2 deliveries are covered. They also cover New Born Babies and First Year Vaccinations. The waiting period for Maternity Benefit is 24 months, i.e. if you are planning for a child after 2 years, you should purchase the health insurance plan for you to get cover for Maternity Expenses.
3. Apollo Munich Easy Health Insurance Plan has a waiting period of 48 months.
I have purchased a flat on loan. I want to buy a Insurance cover to Secure my Home Loan. I have heard there are two options.
1. Insurance Company will pay the remaining Loan amount to bank at the time of death.
2. Insurance company will pay sum Insured Amount to the Nominee of the Insured at the time of death / partial or full disability. Please guide me.
—Dheeraj Singh, Mira Road
If you are looking for a purely Loan Protect Plan, then you have quite a few options at your disposal. If the purpose for purchasing your Protection Plan is only Loan Coverage, then it makes sense to purchase Loan Protect plan as the premium would be less since the coverage decreases over time with reducing liability.
However, if you need uniform coverage for the purpose of protecting your family as well, then you must opt for Term Plan with level coverage.
At the time of your Home Loan, you can opt for a Loan Protect Plan, such that if anything happens to your before the loan is paid off, then entire amount is paid to the Bank, from where you have availed the loan and the hypothecation is removed and your family will not have to bear the burden of your home loan.
You can opt for HDFC Home Loan Protection Plan, which is a good and reputed plan.
You can also avail a pure Loan Protection plan like SBI Saral Shield or SBI Smart Shield Decreasing Loan Protection Plan, Aegon Religare Decreasing Term Plan or LIC Mortgage Redemption Plan, such that the protection amount decreases as the outstanding loan amount also decreases over the years.
Alternately, you can opt for a Term Plan of equivalent amount to your loan amount, and if anything happens to you, your family would receive the money which they can pay to the bank, from where you have availed the loan and remove the house from their hypothecation. You can avail LIC Jeevan Amulya I Plan, Kotak Preferred Term Plan,iCare Plan from ICICI Prudential, etc.
I have a family floater of 5 lacs and my company covers me and my family for Rs. 2.5 lacs medical but I want to increase my family coverage to about Rs. 12 - 15 lacs i.e. 5 to 7 lacs more. What are my options?
—Priyanka Shetty, Panvel
There are quite a few options that you have to increase your coverage.
1) Increase your existing Family Floater Plan by another 10 lacs
2) Buy another Family Floater Plan from the same company or a different one for Rs 10 lacs
3) Take a Top Up or a Super Top Up Plan.
Among the 3 options mentioned, the best Option is to go for a Super Top Up Plan as you would be able to effectively be able to increase the coverage without much increase in premium and heavy medical requirements.
A Top Up Plan provides for coverage of expenses arising from a single illness or disease in one year but only after the initial cover has been exhausted and the premium is usually much less than normal plans. A Super Top Up Plan provides coverage of expenses for all illnesses in one year after the certain threshold level has been exhausted. This limit is called Threshold Limit. The premium for a Top Up Plan or a Super Top Up Plan is usually much less than a full-fledged Health Insurance Plan.
Bajaj Allianz Top Up Plan, Star Health Super Surplus Plan, United India Top Up Plan and United India Super Top Up Plan are some of the common Top Up and Super Top Up Plans that are available in the industry.
(The author is Vice President at www.MyInsuranceClub.com, insurance comparison website in India. You may write to him at [email protected]).